News that the spouses of the President and Vice President of Ghana will be officially enjoying salaries from the government has been scorned by some Ghanaians.
A new arrangement approved by the seventh parliament will see the spouses of the first and second gentlemen of Ghana officially being paid salaries instead of the previous practice of paying them allowances.
This new development was announced by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah who clarified that the approval was done by the previous parliament.
“The truth of the matter is that all surviving spouses of Heads of State, current and former, have always received salaries. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Faustina Acheampong, Fulera Liman etc have all been receiving salaries since President Kufuor’s time.
“What has happened now is that the arrangement has been made formal but that was done legally based on the recommendation by the Emoluments Committee,” the Information Minister emphasized.
He also cleared that the false rumor that H.E Nana Akufo-Addo is the one pushing for his wife to be paid was false and misleading.
“The President does approve salaries and benefits for the Executive. Under Article 71, the First Lady and Second Lady are not office holders so no one can determine their benefits under that article.
“However, a committee only recommended that an arrangement for the spouses be made formal and that received approval from Parliament,” he indicated.
Hon. Oppong Nkrumah stressed that the committee proposed that the allowances received by the spouses of the first and second gentlemen be made official and parliament agreed upon serval deliberations.
“That recommendation was then forwarded to the Seventh Parliament which then gave the approval and it is now to be implemented. It is, therefore, not true as it is being circulated that the President has approved of emoluments to the First Lady and Second Lady,” he added.
Many on social media have shot down the idea that the government will be using taxpayers money to pay Wives of Presidents when the same government is crying about inadequate funds to fix the country.
Ghanaians stressed that the money that will go into the coffers of the women could be used to solve some issues that plague the nation.
Some also alleged that the reason the country go for huge loans is to enrich themselves and their families.
Source: Ghanacelebritie.com